Design of a good information system based on several characteristics is an important requirement for successfully carrying out any decision-making activity. In many cases though a significant amount of information is available, we fail to use such information in a meaningful way. As we require high quality products in day-to-day life, it is also required to have high quality information systems to make robust decisions or predictions. To produce high quality products, it is well established that the variability in the processes must be reduced first. Variability can be accurately measured and reduced only if we have a suitable measurement system with appropriate measures. Similarly, in the design of information systems, it is essential to develop a measurement scale and use appropriate measures to make accurate predictions or decisions.
Usually, information systems deal with multidimensional characteristics. A multidimensional system could be an inspection system, a medical diagnosis system, a sensor system, a face/voice recognition system (any pattern recognition system), credit card/loan approval system, a weather forecasting system or a university admission system. As we encounter these multidimensional systems in day-to-day life, it is important to have a measurement scale by which degree of abnormality (severity) can be measured to take appropriate decisions. In the case of medical diagnosis, the degree of abnormality refers to the severity of diseases and in the case of credit card/loan approval system it refers to the ability to pay back the balance/loan. If we have a measurement scale based on the characteristics of multidimensional systems, it greatly enhances the decision maker's ability to take judicious decisions. While developing a multidimensional measurement scale, it is essential to keep in mind the following criteria: 1) having a base or reference point to the scale, 2) validation of the scale, and 3) selection of useful subset of variables with suitable measures for future use.
There are several multivariate methods. These methods are being used in multidimensional applications, but still there are incidences of false alarms in applications like weather forecasting, airbag sensor operation, and medical diagnosis. These problems could be because of not having an adequate measurement system with suitable measures to determine or predict the degree of severity accurately.